


The Problem with Soulmates Is...

by Geneviev



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Canon Compliant, Fluff, M/M, Mutual Pining, Pining, Siren Percy Jackson, Soulmates
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-26
Updated: 2020-04-26
Packaged: 2021-03-02 00:03:47
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,184
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23855806
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Geneviev/pseuds/Geneviev
Summary: ...not everybody has them.Okay, no, that's not relevant.It's a soulmate Nicercy story - do I have to say more?Or, when your soulmate sings, you hear it in the back of your head, but you can only recognize them if they sing in front of you.
Relationships: Nico di Angelo/Percy Jackson, Others mentioned
Comments: 6
Kudos: 275





	The Problem with Soulmates Is...

It was a strange phenomenon, dated back to the ancient civilizations. The widely spread theory was that it was the gods' gift to mortals, and only those have the Voice, who are favored by them.

The Egyptians thought it was a gift from Ra because when somebody found their Voice, their whole life was in disposition to be bright and fortunate.

The Greeks thought it was from Aphrodite, the Goddess of Love. It is, after all, a love connection...

The Romans hated it and everything it represents; they wanted freedom and unrestricted love. 

Years after years the reactions toward the phenomenon changed. Sometimes drastically, sometimes not. In the Middle Ages, it was considered as a sin, as a sign of Satan, while in the 1900s it was deemed as a mental disorder that needed to be treated in psychiatric wards.

Nowadays it's more accepted but universally studied because of its controversial and unique nature.

The leading scientist - all children of Athena's - wholly agree that it's a genetic mutation, as the blue eyes. Some have blue eyes, some not. Some have the Voice, some don't.

But in the camps, it was explained another way.

It was because of the gods, yes, but it was not a gift. It was as old as the Fates themselves, and nobody who has something to do with the gods can run from it. The gods have it, the demigods have it, even the clear-sighted mortals have it.

The Voice.

Your soulmate's singing voice, which can be only heard by you. When they sing, you hear it in your head, and to hear them sing in real life is the only way to find your soulmate.

If only everything would be so simple.

Having a soulmate is not always rainbow and sunshine and fairy dust. Having a demigod or god as a soulmate is hard.

The gods usually don't have any luck with it: Zeus is cheating on his soulmate, Hera; Aphrodite is Hephaestus' wife but her soulmate is Ares; Apollo heard the Voice 20 times in his life but all ended with his soulmate's death. The only prominent god who found his soulmate and with her his happiness is Hades, the Lord of the Underworld.

Having a love life with demigods is not so perfect either. To hear a Voice, you have to be either a demigod or have a god/demigod as a soulmate. To find them, you have to hear their voice in real life, but it's not so straightforward. When the soulmates are in the same place, they arrive at the Half-blood Camp at the same time period, it is considered a blessing. Silena Beauregard and Charles Beckendorf is the most known soulmate pair like such, but for most of the demigods, it's mostly unrealistic to find their matches.

After the second giant war, it became more accessible when the two camps found out the existence of each other. But, in the end, the world is not so small and the gods are busy beings. There are camps in Europe, Asia, Africa and there is a small one in Australia also. And there is the fact that there are the other pantheons, other demigods, and the _insignificant_ clear-sighted mortals.

And then there is the thing with the high mortality when it comes to the demigods...

So, it is not so surprising to imagine why Percy Jackson didn't find his soulmate yet. He heard the Voice in all his life, even as a baby. He could only sleep when his Voice sang something for him; his Voice was the only thing that kept him alive when he was at his stepfather's, Gabe's, tender mercy. He depended on it, even when others bullied him because he had Voice and others didn’t. After knowing what is it and why is it happening to him, he was so sure he will find his soulmate. That was the only good thing that came out of him being a demigod: a chance to find his soulmate and earn his happily ever after. Like his namesake, the original Perseus did.

His Voice was always with him, so he figured that his soulmate is older than him. It was fine – but he hoped that he will find his match before the other loses hope and finds themselves a pretty wife or a handsome husband. His Voice was invariably childish and high-pitched, but he thought it was because his match might be a woman – or considering the whole immortality, maybe a hunter who was immortalized as a girl or a god who prefers to stay as a little boy.

Whatever he accepts familiar love also.

But then the Voice stopped. He survived one of the most awful quests in his life, when he lost two persons he wanted to consider as friends, he failed this promise to little Nico di Angelo, what is more, he had to hold the world' weight on his shoulders. And suddenly the Voice also stopped. He heard nothing from his soulmate. Not a single hum or even a little beep. They were silent.

He tried to sing for his soulmate to investigate what happened, to ask for a sign, anything to know they are alive, but nothing.

So he stopped for a while.

He even considered finding himself somebody else – of course not instead of his soulmate (he would always love them), but somebody to fill some of the space they left in his heart. He talked about it with Annabeth, but her Voice was clear and they could communicate through specific songs, so he didn’t want to come between her and her happiness.

But after both wars, he began to sing once again. Of course, only at his empty cabin when nobody could hear him, but he sang. And sang more. First, some depressive ballads, about his loss, his pain, his hurt, but little by little he found himself again and his songs changed. He liked to listen Avril Lavigne, Linkin Park, and even Lady Gaga, but what he actually liked to sing most of the time was Disney.

‘When will my life begin’ from Tangled, ‘Reflection’ from Mulan, ‘Part of your world’ from The Little Mermaid…

But his most recent love was ‘My Jolly Sailor Bold’, the song that inspired the sirens for the Pirates of the Caribbean movie. His heart resonated with the haunting melody, it’s story… the sirens.

When he was a young child, not even four years old, his first song - a lullaby - was taught him by his mother. The little Percy sang like an angel, his mother was proud of him; she almost believed he will be a singer when he grows up. However, Gabe appeared in the doorway, with his buddies in tow. And it wasn’t because they wanted to congratulate to Percy, no – as he was singing, they were coming closer and closer like they were hypnotized and bewitched. They wanted Percy, they would do anything to get Percy.

The poor, frightened child, when he saw them, stopped to sing, and luckily that halted their pursuit as well. His mother joked it off and everybody seemed to forget it, except for her.

She deduced that her son had further powers other than speaking to horses, chatting with fishes, and breathing under the water. She forbid him to sing in a crowd or any other time when he isn’t alone. He didn’t understand, but he wanted to please his mother, so he did as he was told. After finding out his heritage, his mother told everything about his hypnotic power, his allure, and he agreed that he will not tell anything concerning his siren ability to anybody – he was extremely powerful without this, he didn’t want to think about what the gods would do to him if they found out that he _really_ is a child of the Sea. It’s okay for Aphrodite’s kids to have the charmspeak ability, but for Poseidon’s son who already has so much power have an allure on top of all? Showing it is a suicide waiting to happen.

So, after years of suppressing his need to sing for his soulmate-who-doesn’t-exist-anymore, he finally sang. There might be nobody on the other end of the connection, but his love to sing comes from being something like a siren, so whenever he was alone at his cabin, he sang.

And one day, there was a quiet, almost whisper-like sound, just a tiny exhale in his head.

His soulmate was alive.

\---*---*---*---

Nico di Angelo didn’t want to find his soulmate.

It wasn’t always like that way. When he was younger, he sang all the time. In the Lotus Hotel, he gravitated towards the karaoke games, as if he could attract his soulmate to him. He didn’t realize that time, but he sang for decades and decades without any response. He wanted one so much, he was convinced, he will have a Voice, just like her sister did. And one day, finally, he heard a cute little song for kiddies in his head. After all, he also got is Voice.

But nobody appeared in the hotel, looking for him - 

except for a lawyer who got him and his sister out of their prior residence. Being in school was a short-lived adventure, because not much after they landed there, something mythical and almost unbelievable attacked them. Then, of course, a hero in an orange T-shirt, with a shining sword came to their rescue.

Little Nico was enamored.

He always wished and yearned for a soulmate who would love him completely, who would protect him and care for him and be his only one. A prince charming, that would sweep him off his feet; a knight in shining armor, who shield him from every bad thing in his life.

And he found it. So who cares if the other boy wasn’t his Voice?! He was brave, he was courteous and had beautiful sea-green eyes. What is more, he was the son of Poseidon - one of the most powerful cards in Mythomagic!

But every good thing has its price: his beloved sister found her Voice and left him for being with her for an eternity as a virgin huntress. Her match was Lady Artemis’ lieutenant, who was much older than she looked. Nico asked her to protect his sister, and she assured him – but to be sure, he also secured his hero's, Percy Jackson's promise to keep Bianca safe during her first quest.

They both failed.

He stopped singing, he stopped believing, he stopped loving.

The first war happened. Percy, his hated-yet-beloved hero disappeared just to turn up in Camp Jupiter without any memory. Then the second war occurred with Tartarus and Cupid and everything bad.

But at least they won both wars and nothing disrupted their newfound peace.

Except when his Voice started to sing once again.

And Nico can’t find strength in himself to resist his soulmate. He can’t have the boy he sacrificed everything for, but maybe soulmates are not that bad? Thus, after hearing what he believes Disney’s every song, he hums back a simple melody.

\---*---*---*---

Since Percy arrived at the camp, he was labeled as somebody who can’t carry a tune. The first singalong night he made a sound like a dying whale so nobody would require him to sing. He was the laughing stock of the camp for weeks – even Clarisse was more skilled than him. He almost said “fuck it”, but his limited yet existed common sense told him not to do anything rash. So he didn't do a _percy_ , as Annabeth lovingly named his recklessness.

Five years later, the campers still recall his ear-killing voice and low-key feel sorry for his soulmate. But at least they don’t make him participate in karaoke nights, singalongs or voice contests.

The Aphrodite cabin – the organizer of the contest, because even if it can be considered as a tournament, it’s real purpose is to make matches – does, however, compel Nico to take part in the competition. Now he has a cabin, he is a hero, his father is wildly accepted, so it’s time for him to join in camp activities.

He is not amused.

He tries to run, but being friends with one of the organizers, it’s not working. Especially if they have the ability to charmspeak and make others do as they say.

You really can’t say the Aphrodite kids are not doing anything in their repertoire to find happy endings for their extended family – and maybe win some money from bettings. They need to entertain themselves somehow, okay?!

But even Piper McLean’s will is not strong enough to command new quests away, so when the word comes from Hades, that he needs his son in the Underworld, she can’t do anything to prohibit it. Nico, the first time in his life, thanks to the gods for the divine intervention, and down in Hell he goes.

(He doesn’t need to know that this is Hades’ attempt to make sure his to-be successor does not end up with Poseidon’s irritating son. In the end, he fails, but props for tying.)

The quest – predictably – goes downhill fast. Nico is strong and his powers are vast, but even his skeleton army is not impenetrable. So when a bunch of monsters escaped from Tartarus attacks him, he is outnumbered. When a lucky hellhound, not as gentle as Mrs. O’Leary, manages to bite his shoulder, he knows he is going to die. He feels the pain, the blood loss, his weakening grasp on his army… then there’s blackness.

Fortunately, his father’s subjects help him and give him enough nectar just in time to survive the trip to the Apollo’s cabin. Will and the others immediately start to heal him, but it takes time. When they declare Nico is out of the woods and he needs to rest, Percy is the first to make his way into Nico’s room. Well, he is the only one, because Will declared firmly, that nobody is to disturb Nico, therefore he snuck in - but same difference.

He was worried about the boy and his ghost-like, unnatural paleness and stillness are not helping with this feeling. He starts to sing, just soft lullabies, but it seems like helping. He doesn’t want to entice Nico, but if he can make hellhounds – namely Mrs. O’Leary – do anything he wants with his song, maybe he can make Nico feel better.

So he sings.

\---*---*---*---

Nico knows he is immensely lucky.

Not only because he survived the ambush, but because after years of silence, he can still hear his soulmate singing at the back of his head. He was afraid they died, but it is clearly the same voice as it was before, which always made him smile and feel more alive. His soulmate still has the same effect on him: his current pain is just an after-thought in the wake of his Voice. It is _magical_.

He always thought so, but now he is wondering whether his Voice is a kid of Aphrodite. It would certainly explain his miraculously fast recovery.

“Really Percy, you don’ have to stay. Will let me go out of his sight, that means I’m absolutely, 100 percent fine”, tries Nico convincing the Sea Prince that he doesn’t need an in-cabin nurse, but the other boy is being stubborn.

What’s new?

He tries to scowl and send Percy away, but secretly it is so comforting to have Percy at his side. He knows the other demigod is not perfect and infallible, but can’t help feeling protected with him so close. He feels cared for – and that’s the problem. He can’ let himself falling in love with Percy Jackson again – well, he didn’t fall out of love with him, therefore can it really be considered as 'again'? –, so he has to stop from indulging himself. He has to keep those pesky feelings bottled down, but it is quite a difficult challenge if Percy is insisting on staying with him alone in his cabin.

Where is his Voice when he needs them?!

“…” He can’t say no to Percy’s baby-seal eyes, so he just sighs.

“Yes!” grins the other boy. “I’ll be the best nurse ever”, declares. 

“Don’t be this happy, I’ll be the worst patient ever”, grunts Nico, but can’t help his small smile at Percy’s little victory dance. _What a dork…_

Their living together has its ups and downs, but mostly it is painful. And wonderful. Living with the object of his unrequited affection takes its toll on the son of Hades. He doesn’t know how much time he has left of his sanity, but the only time of the day when he is not constantly surrounded by the other is when Percy is showering.

Like now.

What is unusual, that there is a sound other than the water’s, coming from the bathroom.

Percy is singing.

Nico never heard him sing, but it is beautiful. He never heard anything more angelic like the showering boy’s voice. He is tempted to go closer, open the door and just climb him like a tree, but he is an expert at containing his desires toward the pretty hero.

But this appealing new knowledge is not the strange matter. What is more startling is…

Nico hears an echo in his head. It takes a moment for Nico to realize that the song he is hearing isn’t only in his head, but he can hear it coming from the bathroom.

The same song.

The same voice.

The words trail off as Percy turns off the shower, but Nico is still computing what this means.

“It’s you…” whispers a startled Ghost Prince without a conscious decision when Percy exits from the bathroom.

“It’s me?”, asks an understandably confused Percy. Nico's continued inner turmoil is apparent even to the water-loving boy, as his adorably puzzled half-grin turns into a frown.

“You are my Voice.” Nico states still in a state of shock. “You. Are. My. Voice”, repeats once again more slowly. Percy stands still, eyes shocked, but then his whole body seems to light up. Although Nico doesn’t seem to notice the change in Percy’s behavior and would have started to rant, if not for his body pressed against the wall – and lips begging to his for reciprocation.

The contact doesn’t last long, Percy steps back a bit unsure. He was attracted to Nico, but after _everything_ , he couldn't even play with the thought that there could be anything romantic between them. But if the other demigod was his Voice? Then everything is changed!

“What?” breaths a bewildered Nico. “You… kissed me.”

“I love you, Nico di Angelo. I was in love with my Voice since I was a child and I was attracted to you since the first time I saw you in Camp Jupiter.” Percy is 

“Oh”, says the pale demigod his brain still short-circulated. He clears his throat. “Then maybe I could tell you that I’ve been in love with you since I first was you”, reveals and suddenly discovers his courage. Nico cups Percy’s cheek in his palm to tilt it up and kisses him.

**Author's Note:**

> Yeah, I can’t write action… Sorry!  
> Hope, you enjoyed :)


End file.
